RAND Summer Associates Program - SOCIOLOGY & DEMOGRAPHY

Submitted by ssri-comm on May 14, 2015 - 9:03am

The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decision making through research and analysis. For over 65 years, decision makers in the public and private sectors have turned to RAND for objective analysis and effective solutions that address the issues that matter most, such as health, education, national security, international affairs, law and business, and the environment. Our research is commissioned by a global clientele that includes government agencies, foundations, and private-sector firms. Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, RAND has approximately 1,700 people from more than 50 countries working in offices in North America, Europe, and the Middle East, with research organized across ten units and annual revenues of more than $250 million.

Position Description

RAND's Summer Associate Program introduces outstanding graduate students in sociology and demography or related fields to the RAND Corporation, an institution that conducts research on a wide range of domestic and international social policy issues as well as national security problems. To learn more about economics at RAND, visit http://www.rand.org/sociology/. Multiple positions open.

Summer Associates experience the following at RAND:

Typically work at RAND for a 12-week period during the summer;

Receive a stipend during their tenure with RAND;

Conduct research that can be completed during their time at RAND and present the results of this research to the RAND community via a 60 minute briefing at the end of their three-month tenure;

Are closely mentored by one to two established RAND researchers;

May be located in Santa Monica, CA, Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, PA, or Boston, MA depending on the match with mentors;

Are encouraged to network and interact with other researchers outside of their primary mentorship team and area of expertise;

Are invited to attend a number of seminars from researchers both within and outside of RAND.

Qualifications:

The position is designed for full-time doctoral students in sociology, demography, or a related field who: (1) have completed at least two years of graduate work leading to a doctorate or professional degree (e.g., law or medical degree); and (2) are within two years of completion of this doctorate or degree.

A keen interest in working on applied, policy-oriented research questions is necessary. Applicants are strongly encouraged to explore RAND's website (www.rand.org) for details on RAND's ongoing research portfolio. Unfortunately, we do not know in advance which projects may require Summer Associates.

Additional qualifications required:

Excellent analytic skills;

Proven ability in quantitative and/or qualitative research methods;

Ability to communicate clearly and effectively in English, both orally and in writing;

Ability to work effectively as a member of a multi-disciplinary team;

Strong commitment to RAND's core values of quality and objectivity;

Proof of legal right to work in the United States is required upon hire;

U.S. Citizenship is not necessary except for positions that require a U.S. government security clearance.

The program is not open to:

Specializations of Interest:

Child development
Demography
Family sociology
Human resources and training
Immigration
Labor relations and markets
Medical sociology
Military sociology
Organizational behavior
Poverty and welfare
Sociology of education
Social inequality and stratification

Particular methodological areas of interest include network analysis and multi-level modeling. Competitive candidates should have training in and experience with mixed quantitative and qualitative methods and be familiar with systematic data collection and analysis techniques. Experience with software such as STATA, SAS, SPSS, HLM, Mplus, ATLAS-ti, or Nvivo is also useful.